Consumers and businesses face a growing tide of malicious software that threatens the stability and performance of their computers and the security of their data. Computer programmers with malicious motivations have created and continue to create viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and other programs (collectively known as “malware”) in an attempt to compromise computer systems. In an attempt to evade detection, malicious programmers may inject malware into or among legitimate programs.
Many security software companies attempt to combat malware by creating and deploying malware signatures (e.g., hash functions that uniquely identify malware) to their customers on a regular basis. However, a significant amount of malware has not yet been identified and therefore cannot be detected using traditional signature-based malware-detection mechanisms, particularly since malware authors may regularly modify their malware in an attempt to circumvent commonly employed signature-based malware-detection mechanisms. Furthermore, signature-based malware detection may fail to provide zero-day protection against new malware.
In addition to or as an alternative to a signature-based approach, security software companies may apply a variety heuristics to classify programs (e.g., as malware or as safe). Unfortunately, heuristic classification methods may result in false negatives, allowing malware to continue to execute. This may result in a particularly frustrating user experience when a user can visually identify a graphical user interface element tied to malware, but traditional malware systems fail to identify the malware. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies an addresses a need for systems and methods for user-directed malware remediation.